What Goes Around Comes Around

I am a big believer in karma. Invariably people get what's coming to them, some of them just have to wait a little longer than others. I also believe that no good deed goes unpunished! While we were at the Mega Race, my husband and I were busy working the Lifewave booth when a lady we didn't know walked up. Kirk was busy, so I said, "How are you?" "Not good, not good at all," she said tearfully. "Do you have some jumper cables?"
I absolutely did, and the reason I did is because last year before Christmas my baby and I were stuck in Tupelo when my car wouldn't start. Not one single person offered assistance to a woman with a baby in a car with the hood raised. Disgusting. Anyway, while I was waiting on my hero, AKA Superhusband, I mentioned on Facebook that all I wanted for Christmas was a set of jumper cables. So naturally, included among my gifts from my dad that year was a roadside assistance kit, complete with a shiny new set of cables. It's ridden around in my car unopened, simply because when you have something like that, you never need it. Leave that sucker at home and I can guarantee you will be sitting on the side of the road.
So I loaned the lady my set of cables, my car, and my husband, because I figured that kind of stuff comes back around. I had no idea what I was getting us into.
As they pull around the building, in a slightly panicky voice this lady mentions that her (small) children are at the hotel and she now has no way to go get them. She explained that the whole mess started when she lost her keys. Apparently forgetting that she was in the murder capital of the southeastern US, this woman walked by herself at least a mile to the Chevrolet dealership. I really wanted to say something to her about her poor decision making, but then I thought, well, if it meant getting back to my kids, I'd have walked past the devil himself. So I couldn't really fault her for that one. But lady, really, next time ask somebody for a ride! Sheesh!
Have I mentioned how hard it is to type with a short person sitting in your lap playing with the mole on your neck? And pushing buttons at random. Oh, and turning your computer off from time to time. Adds a whole new degree of difficulty to my writing career! If only I didn't need to sleep and I could write while my kids were in bed... Anyway, back to my story.
Desperate lady makes it to the Chevy dealership where they sell her a new key for her truck for $60. Because they refuse to give her a ride back to the Fairgrounds (and shame on you guys for that) she walks back. She follows their instructions to put the new key in the ignition without turning the truck on and leave it for an hour. After an hour, her new key is programmed and her battery is dead. So that's when she found me.
In the meantime, someone finds her keys and takes them to the announcer's stand. Excited to have them back, now all she needs is a jump, right? Wrong! After unsuccessfully attempting to jump start her truck with two different vehicles and calling in our buddy who knows about cars, my husband was about at his wits' end. The helpful Chevrolet dealership told her that all they could do for her was call a tow truck. Then our buddy had a thought. "Which key are you using to crank the truck?" "My old one, since we found it." "Try the new one!" You know what happened next. The truck cranked right up and the day was saved!
She was incredibly grateful, and I just have to believe that things like that come back around. I sometimes think about how much fun it would be to have millions of dollars to give away. How cool would it be to change someone's life by paying off their house or bankrolling their dream business? I can't think of anything better. But since I don't have that option at the moment, I have to settle for helping people when the opportunity presents itself. We helped someone, I learned something about cars, and I was once again proud of Superhusband. Maybe it wasn't such a bad week, after all.